Jericho opens Argentina Street to mark bicentenary

May 25, 2010 8:27 P.M. (Updated: May 26, 2010 11:20 A.M.)

Bethlehem - Ma'an - The Argentine Representative to the Palestinian Authority and the Jericho Municipality opened Argentina Street in the Palestinian city to mark the Latin American country's bicentenary.

Ambassador Horacio Wamba and high-ranking Jericho officials opened the new street on Sunday as part of the celebrations for Argentine National Day and the bicentennial of its first national government on Tuesday, organized by the municipality of Jericho, who agreed to name to the new street in recognition of the friendship between Argentine and Palestinian people, a statement read.

The new road is located in Al-Qasab, an important area for residential development close to the Mount of Temptation.

Wamba cut the tape along with Jericho Mayor Hassan Saleh and the Jericho Governor Kamel Hamid, in the presence of various representatives of NGOs, diplomatic official corp, and city residents.

Once the ceremony finished, the Argentine Representation offered a reception at the Municipal Library of Jericho where Saleh said "the opening of this road is the consequence of good relations between the two parties, and a contribution to the development of the oldest city on Earth." The Jericho mayor further announced that efforts to twin Jericho with and important Argentinian town were about to conclude.

Ambassador Wamba, who expressed his joy at the opening of the street, signaled his desire to "make this event a beginning of joint cooperation." Wamba, speaking of Jericho native chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat, described the PLO official as “a Jericho illustrious citizen” from whom "I highlight his friendship with Argentine."

For his part, Hamid welcomed "the initiative of Argentina to put the name of his country to a street in Jericho," and expressed his hope that "other friendly countries do the same, because Jericho is a meeting point for civilizations and this type of actions help to consolidate the city as such, despite Israeli displacement policies”. Wamba added that Argentine also experience the consequences of occupation, embodied in the situation of the Malvinas Islands”. He noted that “in many occasions we have called for UK to agree to negotiate a solution to the conflict,”.

Jericho's governor and mayor invited Wamba and Argentine's representative office to participate actively in the celebrations of 10,000 years of Jericho, one of the oldest cities in the world, due to take place next October, the statement concluded.